Genghis' Inq28 [Daughter Superior Virginia added 20 Apr 24]

[Genghis]

Crikey!  I seem to have got distracted and forgot to thank you all for the nice comments about my shrubbery, apologies.

Meanwhile, I've got another couple of figures done - presenting Malakili the brute handler (who, judging from all those bionics has clearly learnt some lessons the hard way) and a nameless mutie.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever actually get enough rep and creds to warrant recruiting a brute handler for a gang, but I loved the figure and that’s all I needed.  The mutie was a freebie thrown in by Imitation of Life with my rock worm/grub order (see my 17 Feb post); I haven’t any particular gaming use lined up for the mutie, but it’s a fun little figure that can add to the eclectic collection on my monitor at work.

[Genghis]

Albrecht’s Guild-Sanctioned Trading Company:  Temenos – Trazior – Sump City



My latest batch of figures is a delegation from the homebrewed Necromundan Mercator Negotiatoris (Guild of Wholesale Traders), led by the Guilder Henrik Albrecht.  If I ever get as far as actually fielding them on the tabletop, I'll cobble some rules together (basing Ripper on the Corpse Grinder profile from the Corpse Harvesting Party for example), although I've had a bash at some suitably thematic powers for Clara the illusionist below.  The figures are a mixture of Heresy Lab, Bad Squiddo (Clara) and Void (Mr Pond).  Clara had the eldritch flames added to her hand and a couple of 40K greeblies on her jacket, and Mr Pond had his pistol swapped for a bolt pistol.



Henrik Albrecht.  Henrik is a junior member of the Mercator Negotiatoris, although as a Guilder the term ‘junior’ is relative – he’s impossibly wealthy by the standards of most underhivers.  A shrewd businessman*, Henrik has clawed his way up from the bottom, starting his career collecting ‘night soil’ from the local settlements and selling it on to the slime farms as fertiliser.  At each level of business, he has made enough creds to buy into the next level up, moving on to more profitable produce and/or expanding his reach.  Eventually, his business empire enabled him to buy his way into the Mercator Negoiatoris and finally pin on that coveted Guilder’s Seal.
 
* Henrik does genuinely have sound business acumen, but his rise has been somewhat facilitated by a ruthless streak a mile wide, a certain moral flexibility with regards to cheating those he deals with and a willingness to (have others, on his behalf) resort to lethal violence when necessary advantageous, although he keeps his soul pure by donating a suitable percentage to the Ecclesiarchy.  Despite being (to use the vernacular) an utter bastard in his professional life, Henrik dotes on his wife and children and ensures they are kept in blissful ignorance of the more unsavoury aspects of his business dealings.



Mr Pond.  Cobbs Pond first met Henrik when they were both young and he tried to hold Henrik up at knifepoint.  A persuasive dealmaker, Henrik convinced Cobbs that, whilst he could take Henrik’s creds and leave him for dead, that was very short-termist in outlook.  It would be better by far to hitch his fortunes to Henrik’s and share in the spoils of rinsing creds from people via legitimate(ish) business activity.  Although slight in stature, Mr Pond (as he known now that he is a ‘respectable’ businessman) is a very dangerous man who will escalate a confrontation rapidly and let his bolt pistol do the talking.  He has become Henrik’s right hand man, ensuring his protection and engaging with the less legal aspects of the business, allowing Henrik to affect an air of innocence.
 
Ripper.  As unsubtle as a bolt pistol round to the face is, sometimes you really want to make an impression.  For such situations, Henrik bought out the contract for “Ripper” Larsson.  No one knows, nor cared to ask, his origins, but he was most likely gene-engineered by House Goliath before being somehow sold via slavers into the fighting pits, where they fitted a combat conditioning chip to his brain.  Ripper’s mere presence in the background is often enough to deter any violence or threats to Henrik, but at the utterance of a trigger phrase, he will unleash bloody mayhem with his twin bionic chainsword arms; reverting just as quickly to childlike passivity upon hearing the stand down phrase.



Clara.  Clara is a Wyrd Telepath with illusionist powers.  Luckier than many of her kind, she was spared a brutal death at the hands of a mob or transportation aboard one of the Black Ships, and was instead sold as a child into the service of an up-hive noble family.  Although granted semi-sanctioned status (at least as far as the Lex Helmawr went) and thus spared a fate worse than a fate worse than death, she lived a life of abusive servitude, forced to submit to the debased whims of the gilded.  Able to conjure someone’s wildest fantasies somewhere between their eyes and their brain, she was brought out as a novelty for entertaining guests at parties, and used by her masters whenever they wanted.
 
It was whilst at one of these parties, where she met Henrik (who was present riding on the coattails of a senior guilder).  Learning from his servants of his background and criminal connections, she approached him to see if he could free her from the noble family.  Immediately recognising the benefits of having an illusionist in his employ, Henrik agreed to help and had Mr Pond use his contacts to smuggle her into the underhive, beyond the reach of those who owned her.  Although still not a free woman, Clara is pragmatic about her lot in life, and at least indentured servitude to Henrik (as the cost of her ‘freedom’) doesn’t include having to share his bed.  For Henrik’s part, the money spent acquiring Clara is the best investment he ever made.  It’s amazing what contracts people will sign (in front of witnesses of unimpeachable character) when a wyrd is making them see something else altogether on the parchment in front of them.

Klynveld.  During his rise up the greasy pole, Henrik’s business interests became complex enough that he needed a savant/numbers man; Klynveld is that man.  He probably won’t make the cut for the on-table Guild Delegation, although, I am half considering giving him some sort of combat prediction capability that would buff the others in the crew, but haven’t thought it through properly yet.  (This may just be overcomplicating an already diverse 4-strong Guild delegation.)



Here are my draft wyrd powers for Clara:

Illusory Firebolts (Basic): (Telepathy Discipline)  The wyrd appears to hurl a ball of eldritch green fire which explodes upon impact, wreathing those nearby in burning flames.  Except, none of it is real.  Place a 3” Blast template centred within 24” of this fighter.  Any fighters at least partially under the template are pinned as if they had been hit by a shooting attack (no damage is done, skills/abilities to negate the effects of pinning function as normal). 

(I’m not sure whether to add a rule whereby from the third (successful) use onwards in a fight, anyone affected by it ignores being pinned if they pass an Int check, although that may tone down what is already quite a restrained power a bit too much.)

It Burns (Basic), Continuous Effect: (Telepathy Discipline)  The wyrd reaches into that space between the nerve endings and the brain to convince someone that they are aflame.  Choose a single enemy fighter both within 12” and LoS of this fighter.  That fighter becomes subject to the Blaze condition with the following changes: no damage is taken (they’re not really on fire); and attempting to put the ‘fire’ out requires a successful Int check (with no bonuses for assistance – no one else can see the flames). 

[Dr Mathias]

Great looking group Great background too!

I had some trouble printing the guilder model, the file I have has a void inside it and the cloak is very thin. In fact if it hadn't ripped as I was removing supports I'm not sure I would have ever known it had a hollow area inside. I ended up curing it and sculpting the cloak anew.

[OSHIROmodels]

Love the new additions 

[blacksoilbill]

That's a really characterful crew. Albrecht in particular is a fantastic figure.

[Genghis]

Thank-you all.

I had some trouble printing the guilder model...

Mine was (I think) a resin cast rather than printed, so I didn't have to face/worry about that thankfully - just a little bit of cleaning up what was a pretty neat cast.

[Freddy]

Great additions!

[Genghis]

You've got red on you! 

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted here!  In my defence, I was partially distracted by a handful of Burrows and Badgers woodland critters (over on the Fantasy page), and I made a start on the Corpse Harvesting Party, but I was struggling with the mojo with them (there's a lot of fiddly detail). In the end, rather than force it, I've parked them for the time being and finally made a start on the the long-awaited Project Zombie (that's been at least 2 years in the planning).

The first three are done; these three were to test/prove a couple of painting and converting methods before I start on the whole hoard.  I think I've finally got the hang of quick and simple rusty bases (with Dirty Down Rust) and the Tamiya Clear Red (after varnishing) works a treat.  I'm happy with the exposed bone on the middle one; less happy with the falling out guts of the left one, but I now know to make them droopier, and maybe add more. 

Right, back to building/converting another 20 odd of the little tinkers.

[Genghis]

I’ve come back to my PDF goons again, this time adding the options to field them as a Blooded Kill Team.  Listening to the Once Upon A Kill Team podcast, they posited the idea of running Blooded as a still loyalist (albeit a bit wayward and brutal) force.  This gave me the idea that, given that I already had many of the options (including, most importantly, the ogryn and Commissar/Enforcer), another five additions would give me all the options.  I have yet to actually play the current version of Kill Team, but it’s good to have a full team with all the options when I eventually do so.  They also expand the weapons options to field the goons as Venators/Outcasts (fallen house militia) in Necromunda.

The figures are the (now old) Cadians with Anvil Industry heads, and the weapons are from the bits box (including Anvil and a Necromunda/Cawdor hammer).

(Next up is getting back to the horde of zombies.)


Group shot


Brimstone Grenadier, Thug and Trench Sweeper


Butcher and Flenser

[Freddy]

Great looking zombies and soldiers! It is fantastic what a headswap can do to those old Spaceballs Cadians.

[Genghis]

Thank-you.  Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised when I did the first ones how much better they looked with some alternative heads from Anvil.

[blacksoilbill]

That's quite a crew you've amassed there. Looking good!

[axiom]

I've missed the last few posts, but loving all of these character figures. The brute handler and mutie are a great pair!

[Elbows]

Excellent stuff.  I really like the Imitation of Life line, but I couldn't find a US printer for them last I looked.

[Genghis]

Thank-you.

After learning lessons with the first three, here’s another 17 zombies, rounding out the initial 20.  With 13 more built and undercoated, that will give me a nice little shambling horde. 







Mantic Plague Zombies (which, in hindsight, I’m really not a fan of – but they’ll do to bulk out the numbers).



GW old Cadians/Cultists (with Anvil Industry heads & arms); I like the idea of having a handful of zombie versions of my gangs, hence the chaos cultists and PDF goons. 



Straight up Anvil figures.  (Mostly cobbled together with bits from some B-grade bits bags I've bought over the years, with the specifically-purchased zombie arms and heads.)



GSC (with the cult icons crudely removed and Anvil heads & arms).  Rather liking this scheme, I’ve decided that the Necromundan Archeotech & Sump-salvage Administration (NASA) is now a thing in my little cell of the great honeycomb that is the Underhive.  (I have a vague idea about using the Mercator Nautica Syphoning Delegation as the core of an Outcast gang, using NASA GSC figures as the Hive Scum – we’ll see if I ever get around to it.)